<a href="http://eoreality.net/events"><img src="http://endofreality.net/pubvsproimg/main.png" width="430" height="226" border="0"></a><

Couple of quick community updates:<ul>
<li>The <a href="http://eoreality.net/events">Pubs vs Pros Winter Wasteland</a> is almost upon us. Once again, 6 pro TF2 players will take on a team of 9 pub players. With <a href="http://www.tgbf.tv/">TGBF.tv</a> doing the shoutcasting, it's sure to be an entertaining match. Head over to the <a href="http://eoreality.net/events">event page</a> to find out when and how you can catch it. You can also find more info in this <a href="http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1686012">forum thread</a>. Good luck to all the players!</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/show/extelevision?s=1">eXtelevision</a> has also posted its coverage of ETF2L's Highlander Mix-up. If you haven't already, make sure you check out the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCIP1Z-m7EQ&hd=1">Badwater</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdM0HYT07Rk">Granary</a> matches.</li>
</ul>

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Couple of quick community updates:

• The Pubs vs Pros Winter Wasteland is almost upon us. Once again, 6 pro TF2 players will take on a team of 9 pub players. With TGBF.tv doing the shoutcasting, it's sure to be an entertaining match. Head over to the event page to find out when and how you can catch it. You can also find more info in this forum thread. Good luck to all the players!
  
• eXtelevision has also posted its coverage of ETF2L's Highlander Mix-up. If you haven't already, make sure you check out the Badwater and Granary matches.
  

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed an exploit related to The Amputator.
  
• Duel result notifications now show the winner's Steam avatar.
  
• Fixed the alpha channel for CP_Yukon's donation stamp.
  
• Fixed a client crash caused by overflowing the audio buffer.
  
• The Earbuds and the Gentle Manne's Service Medal are now gift-wrappable.
  
• Stock TF2 weapons with custom names or descriptions are now gift-wrappable.
  
• Updated DeGroot Keep to fix a problem with missing models.
  
• Fixed a server takeover exploit related to point_servercommand entities.
  
• Fixed an exploit that allowed servers to circumvent the restrictions on commands they're allowed to force clients to issue.
  
• Festive Winter Keys have been changed to regular MannCo Crate keys.
  

One of the requests we've gotten from community item contributors has been for an easier way to test their creations. We're pleased to announce that last friday's update included a beta version of our new item testing system. Some folks over at the <a href="http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Main_Page">Official TF2 Wiki</a> have already found it and started <a href="http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Item_testing">documenting the system</a>, but we wanted to provide some more information on what's there, and where we're going with it.

There are two main steps to making items that we think need addressing:
<ul>
<li>Building the MDL file.</li>
<li>Testing the item in-game.</li>
</ul> The item testing system covered in this post is focused on the latter, but we're working on another tool that'll make the first step much easier too, and we'll talk about that when it's closer to release.

Read the full blog post <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4850&p=1">here</a>.

One of the requests we've gotten from community item contributors has been for an easier way to test their creations. We're pleased to announce that last friday's update included a beta version of our new item testing system. Some folks over at the Official TF2 Wiki have already found it and started documenting the system, but we wanted to provide some more information on what's there, and where we're going with it.

There are two main steps to making items that we think need addressing:

• Building the MDL file.
  
• Testing the item in-game.
  

The item testing system covered in this post is focused on the latter, but we're working on another tool that'll make the first step much easier too, and we'll talk about that when it's closer to release.

Read the full blog post here.

Certain uncomfortable international treaties have expired allowing us to bring you a WEEKEND PAINT SALE that's sure to enrage the Bavarian anti-paint lobby. It's going on now inside Team Fortress 2. During this New Year's weekend you can get most hat paints for half off, black and white paint is available on the store for a limited time, and name tags and description tags are also on sale!

Certain uncomfortable international treaties have expired allowing us to bring you a WEEKEND PAINT SALE that's sure to enrage the Bavarian anti-paint lobby. It's going on now inside Team Fortress 2. During this New Year's weekend you can get most hat paints for half off, black and white paint is available on the store for a limited time, and name tags and description tags are also on sale!

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Team Fortress 2

• The Blighted Beak is now a misc slot item.
  
• The Buffalo Steak Sandvich's speed boost no longer stacks with other speed boosts.
  
• The Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper now have no max health penalty, and have damage vulnerabilities instead.
  
• Duel fixes:
  
  • Duels can no longer be initiated when the round is not fully running.
    
  • If you challenge someone that has already challenged you, the duel is automatically accepted.
    
  • Fixed an issue where a dueling mini-game item was marked in-use even though the duel was rejected.
    
  • Duels are now refunded if a server plugin forces a participant to switch teams.
    
• Loading screen:
  
  • Only shows the duel leaderboard if you've been dueling, or if your friends have been dueling.
    
  • Shows your personal stats whenever it's not showing the duel leaderboard.
    
• Custom hitsounds:
  
  • Must now be specified by replacing the 'tf/sound/ui/hitsound.wav' file.
    
  • Can now be used under sv_pure 1/2.
    
• Improved performance on Degroot Keep.
  
• The "Fabricate Class Headgear" recipe no longer has a chance of creating all-class hats.
  
• Fixed spectator mode sometimes ending up in a state where you were half-embedded in your spectator target.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Kritzkrieg’s animations.
  
• Fixed round restarts not cleaning up weapons correctly for a frame (fixes a variety of weapon attribute issues, such as players having less health or less ammo than they should)
  
• Fixed painting issues in several of the Australian Christmas hats.
  
• The Sniper scope is now visible when viewing First Person Spectator mode on a zoomed Sniper.
  
• Medieval Mode's auto-roleplay now ignores text beginning with '!' or '/' (so SourceMod commands aren't modified)
  

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Fixed an engine crash caused by too many precached models in some community maps.
  

Day of Defeat: Source

• Fixed an exploit where clients could prevent weapons from recoiling properly.
  

Team Fortress 2

• Added several crafting recipes for new weapons.
  
• Added a ton of items to the store.
  
• Added a ton of items to the random drop list.
  
• The following hats are now paintable or have had their paintability improved: Pyromancer's Mask, Detective Noir, Madame Dixie, Buckaroos Hat, German Gonzila, Flipped Trilby, Coupe D'isaster
  
• Fixed a spelling error on the "Pyromancer's Mask".
  
• Corrected the name of the "Claidheamh Mòr" to the joy of our Celtic players.
  
• Made "Le Party Phantom" a misc slot item.
  
• Fixed a client crash caused by custom stats panels.
  
• Fixed a bug where some new items weren't being dropped correctly.
  
• Removed displaying the top 10 players in the leaderboard if you have never won a duel.
  
• Updated the localization files.
  
• Fixed a regression in Tournament Mode item whitelists.
  
  • Also added "mp_tournament_whitelist", a convar that allows servers to specify a whitelist file to use.
    

<a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/australianchristmas"><img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/oldnick.png" height="302" width="420" border="0"></a>

You demanded a <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/australianchristmas">Holiday update</a>, and by gad, you're going to get it and like it, pal. We've cooked up a fine feast of new weapons, garnished it with more headgear than you have heads, and left it simmering overnight in a new game mode. What are you waiting for?! Get over to the Update Page and chow down!

To celebrate we're running a big sale in the Mann Co. Store THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

<img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/weekend_sale.jpg" height="341" width="420" border="0"></a><br /><br />